The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.7 percent to 136.29 at
7:40 p.m. in Tokyo as five shares rose for every two that fell.
The equity benchmark climbed 1.6 percent last week as trade data
from China beat estimates and Janet Yellen’s first testimony to
Congress as head of the Federal Reserve buoyed optimism about
the U.S. economy.

“There’s optimism in the market,” Desmond Chua, an
analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said by phone. “Record
credit growth in China should offset recent concerns the economy
is slowing down. Investors are looking forward to additional
monetary stimulus in Japan as the government tries to counter
the negative effect of the higher consumption tax in April.”

China Lending

Chinese aggregate financing, the broadest measure of credit
in the world’s second-biggest economy, was 2.58 trillion yuan
($430 billion) last month, the People’s Bank of China said in a
Feb. 15 statement. The data, while suggesting China can limit
the scale of a slowdown, contrast with a central bank call last
month for lenders to control surging loans and highlight
diminishing economic returns from credit growth.

Japan’s Topix index added 0.7 percent after falling as much
as 1 percent earlier. The economy grew less than forecast in the
fourth quarter, according to a report today, underscoring risks
to the recovery as a sales-tax increase looms in April.

Gross domestic product expanded an annualized 1.0 percent
from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo,
compared with the 2.8 percent median estimate of economists
surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Cautious Outlook

“At this stage we remain cautious,” Angus Gluskie, who
helps oversee about $550 million as a fund manager at White
Funds Management in Sydney, said by phone. “The rally that
we’ve seen in the past week has been very rapid and that could
sometimes be problematic. We’d like to see a bit more data.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.5 percent on Feb.
14 as earnings overshadowed weaker-than-estimated U.S. jobs and
factory data last week. The U.S. market is closed today for a
public holiday.

The Fed’s Yellen said last week that U.S. growth has
strengthened and that only a “notable change in the outlook”
for the economy would prompt policy makers to slow the pace of
cuts to the central bank’s monthly bond-buying program.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has pared losses after dropping
4.6 percent in January, its worst start since 2009, amid concern
about Fed stimulus cuts, signs of a slowdown in China and
volatility in developing markets. Global equity losses in 2014
peaked at $3 trillion on Feb. 4 and narrowed to about $145
billion as of yesterday, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Earnings Season

Of the 360 companies on the Asian measure that have
reported quarterly earnings since the beginning of January and
for which estimates are available, 54 percent beat profit
expectations, Bloomberg-compiled data show.

China Life jumped 5.8 percent to HK$22.85 in Hong Kong, its
biggest advance since Nov. 18. Credit Suisse raised its rating
to outperform from neutral, while UBS increased its
recommendation to buy from neutral.